Thickener for decorating textiles of organic derivatives of cellulose



Patented July 194i THICKENER FOR DECORATING TEXTILES OF ORGANICDERIVATIVES F CELLU- LOSE John Allan and James Arthur Wainwright,Spondon, near Derby, England, asaignors to Celanese Corporation ofAmerica, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing.

rial No. 236,573. 1937 3 Claims.

This invention relates to the treatment of textile materials withthickened preparations and particularly to the production of designs ontextile materials having a basis of organic derivatives of cellulose,especially by printing processes. This application is acontinuation-in-part of our co-pending Application S. No. 195,579, filedMarch 12, 1938. The preparations employed in processes of printingtextile fabrics and other processes involving the local treatment oftextile materials are commonly thickened with vegetable gums in order toreduce the tendency of the preparations to spread after application andparticularly during the subsequent steaming or ageing operationApplication October 22, 1938, Se-

In Great Britain April 24,

which is generally required. In many cases it is found necessary toemploy highly concentrated gum solutions, e. g. gum arabic solutions ofup to 50% concentration. The use of large proportions of gum, however,is undesirable in that it makes the print particularly liable to crackduring subsequent treatment. Moreover after printing with the thickenedpreparations commonly in use it is usually necessary to apply a vigorouswashing'or scouring treatment to the textile materials which is liableto damage the printif not the materials themselves.

It has now been found that it is possible to obtain excellent prints orother designs on textile materials having a basis of an organicderivative of cellulose if there are employed thickened aqueouscompositions which contain a substantial proportion of a high-boilingsolvent or swelling agent, hereinafter referred to briefly as a solvent,for the organic derivative of cellulose, and which are thickened with awater-soluble cellulose ester or ether of which an ester or etherradicle contains a hydroxyl group or an acidic or basic group. Animportant advantage of the compositions of the present invention ascompared with thickened compositions in general is that by their usefabrics having a soft handle and exhibiting sharply defined permanentprints or designs may be obtained on simply drying the products withoutsteaming and without washing.

According to the invention, therefore, aqueous compositions formodifying the appearance of a textile-material havinga basis of awater-insoluble organic derivative of cellulose comprise a substantialproportion of a high-boiling solvent for the said organic derivative ofcellulose and, as a thickening agent, a water-soluble organicderivative" of cellulose of which a substituent radicle contains ahydroxyl group, an acidic group or a basic group.

The solvent for the cellulose derivative of the textile material whichis employed in the compositions according to the invention preferablyhas a boiling point of 120 C. or more, advantageously, at least 150 C.Solvents of bollinfl point between 150 and 200 C. are-particularlyuseful. Amongst suitable solvents are, for example, ethyl lactate,diacetone alcohol, diethyl tartrate, dibutyl tartrate, benzyl alcohol,and the esters and ether-esters of glycols and glycerols, e. g. glycolmono-acetate and the acetates of glycol mono-methylandmono-ethyl-ethers.

The proportion of solvent present in the compositions to give thedesired fixing of the modifying substance depends upon the nature of themodifying substance and upon the nature of the cellulose derivative inthe textile material, as well as upon the solvent power of the solventitself. Ingeneral a proportion of the order of 40-60% based on the'weight of the composition is effective, though higher proportions orlower proportions, e. g. 20%, may be employed.

The water soluble cellulose derivatives may be employed in any suitableproportions, but proportions of 1.54%, based on the weight of thecomposition, are found to be particularly satisfactory.

As examples of water-soluble cellulose derivativeswhich may be employedaccording to the invention, mention may be made of hydroxyalkyl ethersof cellulose soluble in water, e. g. hydroxyethyl-, hydroxybutylandhydroxypropylcelluloses, such as are obtainable by the action ofalkylene oxides or alkylene chlorhydrins on alkali cellulose. Further,there may be employed cellulose derivatives, soluble in water,obtainable by etherification of cellulose with glycide alcohol and othercompounds containing an alkylene oxide radicle, or with glycerinechlorhydrin and other compounds yielding celulose ethers in which anether radicle contains more than one hydroxyl group. Examples of othercellulose derivatives which can be employed according to the inventionare water-soluble carboxyalkyl ethers of cellulose, e. g. carboxy-methylcellulose, and water-soluble cellulose esters obtainable by the action,on an acyl ester of cellulose-of organic hydroxy acids or organic diorpolybasic acids.

For instance, products obtainable by the action of lactic acid, oxalicacid or tartaric acid on cellulose acetate can be employed. Mixtures ofthe cellulose derivatives soluble in water can be employed.

The water-soluble cellulose derivatives need not necessarily be employedin the pure state.

' For'example, the product obtained by interaction of alkali cellulosewith ethylene oxide and treatment of the resulting etherificationproduct with boric acid, and which containsborax (cf. U. S. Patent No.2,135,128) can be used with substantially the same results as areobtained with the purified hydroxyethyl-cellulose.

The water-soluble cellulose esters and ethers derivative employed isadvantageously such that its aqueous solution has a specific viscosity,as defined below, of 20-30 when the concentration is between about 2%and 5%, e. g. 4%. Products of still higher viscosity, e. 3. products ofwhich solutions of as little as 1% concentration have a of lowerviscosity can be employed, e. g. products of which solutions up toconcentration have a viscosity of -30.

The specific viscosity referred to above is given by the formula v Iwhere h is the time in seconds required for a given volume of thesolution-at 20 C. to flow through a given capillary tube, ta is the timein seconds required for the same volume of water at 0 C. to flow throughthe same capillary tube, and d is the density of the solution in gramsper c. c.

The present invention finds application in various treatments formodifying the appearance of cellulose derivative textile materials.Forex-' ample, it may be applied to discharging and/or delusteringprocesses by employing compositions made up with a solvent for thecellulosederivative base of the textile materials, a water-solublecellulose derivative of the type described above,

and a discharging agent and/or a delustering pigment. Mostadvantageously, however, it is applied in colouring cellulose derivativetextile 3 materials. p

Various classes of colouring matters can be used when applying thislatter process to cellulose ester or ether textiles. For example,watersoiubie or water-insoluble colouring matters having direct amnityfor cellulose ester or ether materials when applied from aqueous baths,e. g. the water-insoluble I aminoanthraquinone, azo andnitro-di-arylamine colouring matters, and sulphuric esters of colouringmatters containing hydroxy-alkyl groups such as are used for colouringcellulose acetate textile materials. Again, many colouring matters whichhave little or no aflinity for cellulose esters or ethers when appliedfrom aqueousbaths can be fixed by the process, e. g. many acid wooldyestuffs.

The new processis particularly well adapted for the treatment ofcellulose acetate materials. It is, however, applicable to the treatmentof textile materials of other cellulose esters, e. g. cellulose butyrateand propionate, and to materials of cellulose ethers, e. g. methyl,ethyl,

particularly applicable to processes in which textile materials aretreated to produce local modification of their appearance or properties,it can viscosity of 20-30 may be used. Agaimproducts also with advantagebe applied to processes in which textile materials are uniformlytreated. For example padding liquors 'or other preparations for theuniform treatment of cellulose derivative textiles by mechanicalimpregnation methods may contain solvents for thecellulose derivative ofthe textiles and may be thickened with the above-mentioned cellulosederivatives. The inclusion of a solvent and of a thickening agent insuch preparations is frequently beneflcial as regards the uniformity andpermanence of the processed goods.

The following example illustrates the invention 7 but is not to be takenas limiting it in any way.

The parts are given by weight.

Example A cellulose acetate fabric is printed with the following paste:

The material is then dried. Excellent golden yellow prints of goodfastness to water are obtained.

By substituting for the nitro-diarylamine dyestuil. 0.5 part of1-amino-2-sulpho-4-p-toluideanthraqulnone or 0.5 part of magenta, blueor red prints respectively are obtained, likewise of good fastness towater.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. An aqueous composition containing a substance capable of modifyingthe appearance of a textile material having a basis of a water-insolubleorganic derivative of cellulose, said composition being adapted to yielda sharply-defined pat:

tern when applied locally to said .textile material and comprising asubstantial proportion of a high-boiling solvent for said organicderivative of cellulose and, as a thickening agent, a water-soluandcomprising a substantial proportion of a sol-- vent for said organicderivative of cellulose having a boiling point of 150-200 C. and, as athick- 1 stance capable of modifying the appearance of a textilematerial having a basis of cellulose acetate, said composition beingadapted to yield a sharply-defined pattern when applied locally to saidtextile material and comprising a substantial proportion of ahigh-boiling solvent for said cellulose acetate -and, as a thickeningagent, a water-soluble carboxy alkyl ether of cellulose which yields a5% aqueous solution having a specific viscosity of at least 20.

JOHN ALLAN.

JAMES ARTHUR WAINWRIGHT.

Patent No. 2 ,2u8,0l s. July 3, 19m

'ond column, line 58, claim 2, before the word "ether" insert--s.1kyl--; and

I CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

JOHN ALLAN, ET AL. v

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2,secthat the said Letters Patent should be read with this correctiontherein tfhat the same may conform to the record of-the case in thePatent Office.

Signed and sealed this 12th day of August, A. D. 19m.

Henry Van Arsdale,

(Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

